The Libyan Arab Socialist Union () was a

Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

from 1971 to 1977 based on the principles of

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

Arab socialism Arab socialism () is a political ideology based on the combination of pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism and socialism. The term "Arab socialism" was coined by Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of Ba'athism and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Part ...

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

served as chairman of the party.

History

On 11 June 1971, Gaddafi declared the formation of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) as the sole legal party of Libya. Gaddafi announced that it would bring true democracy with all participating, eliminate class distinctions and form a new socialist ideology based on

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, rejecting

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

. Many aspects of Gaddafi's Libyan

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

, republican, and Arab socialist revolution were based on that of Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

. Like Nasser, Gaddafi seized power with a Free Officers Movement, which became the Revolutionary Command Council. Like its Egyptian counterpart, the Libyan ASU was the sole legal party and was designed as a vehicle for integrated national expression rather than as a political party. The party was open to all

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

. However, only a few non-Libyans joined. Bashir Hawady was the general secretary of the party. In May 1972, the Libyan ASU and the Egyptian ASU agreed to merge their two parties into a single body.
The Middle East: Abstracts and index
', Vol. 23, Part 2. Library Information and Research Service., 1999. p. 248 The Arab Socialist Union was closely controlled by the Revolutionary Command Council, which had the power to annul any resolution or dissolve any branch. Trade unions were incorporated into the ASU. The first ASU congress took place in March 1972 with a membership of 322,000, where Gaddafi made a five-hour speech and then debated other RCC members over the freedom of press and the right to strike. At the second ASU national congress in November 1974, the administrative system of governorates and directorates was abolished to create direct contact between the government and the people, and committees were placed under direct supervision of the Arab Socialist Union. In April 1975, the Arab Socialist Union Congress was replaced by 618-member body of the General People's Congress. It met in November 1975 and then in January 1976 to approve the budget and demand that all opposition to Gaddafi must be crushed. The Arab Socialist Union was abolished during the Sabha Congress on 3 March 1977.

References

1971 establishments in Libya 1977 disestablishments in Libya Arab nationalism in Libya Arab Socialist Union Defunct political parties in Libya History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi Nasserist political parties Pan-Arabist political parties Parties of one-party systems Political parties disestablished in 1977 Political parties established in 1971 Socialist parties in Libya {{Libya-party-stub